This weekend was the annual Real Food Festival at Earls Court in London, and having not had many opportunities to increase my chance of gout in the last few weeks I thought I would try my luck.
Having not been before I was looking forward to see what was on offer, and see some of the chefs demonstrations that where happening throughout the day. The tickets that I bought for my wife and myself included a copy of the festival's cooking book which on inspection would seem to be worth the value of one ticket, well maybe half a ticket...
On entering the venue we were confronted with several stands which seemed to have no discernible order and very little planning. The selection of stalls was impressive with a number of foodstuffs on display and ready to sample such as oils, dips, smoked meats, pastas, cakes, brownies, alcohol, and large numbers of sausages. Although the produce was fantastic and some of the tastes truly stunning the festival had the feel of a market such as Borough, and the relentless attempts to sell made me question why there was such a high entry fee.
One of my interests for the show was to see Nic Watt of Roka give a demonstration as advertised on the shows web site. Disappointingly he had been replaced by a chef from Iberica who while interesting was fairly difficult to understand although, I hasten to add, his English is far superior to my Spanish. He made a selection of dishes including the potato and clam dish (above) which smelt fantastic, but was only allowed to be looked at like a painting in a gallery. Teasing people with food should be considered a form of mental bullying, and be reported to the court of human rights. After this underwhelming display we decided to not waste anymore time being mentally abused and instead decided to eat and shop our way around the stalls.
I would say if you want to experience the Festival save yourself the money and visit Borough market, or one of Real Foods upcoming street markets. There were for me a couple of producers who were the standout of the show. The first was Gower Cottage Brownies who I will be writing a separate blog about, and Simply Ice Cream who made a delicious selection of ices that once available in my area will cause me to be well on the way to gout...
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
Posted by: UGG Boots | 12/12/2011 at 08:49 AM